This invention relates generally to fusing apparatus in electrostatographic copiers and printers, and more particularly, to a solid elastomeric fusing member that is suitable for use as a fuser roller in such apparatus. The fuser roller of the present invention is particularly inexpensive to manufacture, and particularly suitable for use in a fusing apparatus as an externally heated and axially unsupported fuser roller.
In electrostatographic copiers and printers, conventional heat and pressure fusing apparatus as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,006, issued Nov. 5, 1985 in the name of Elvin, include a pair of rollers, each having a hollow metallic shell core that may be coated with a layer of elastomeric material. The rollers are axially supported to form a fusing nip through which toner images are conveyed for fusing onto a suitable receiver, or a copy sheet. The heat necessary for such fusing is supplied by a heat source, such as a lamp, located within the hollow of the metallic core of at least the one roller that directly contacts the toner particles forming the image. The heat supplied to the one roller may also be from an external heat source that contacts and directly heats the surface of such roller. Typically, the one roller is the fuser roller, while the other roller is the pressure roller. The pressure necessary for fusing is supplied to the fusing nip through the cooperation of the fuser and pressure rollers.
Such cored and coated rollers, however, are often expensive to manufacture because the metallic shell core must be produced first, and the elastomeric layer or coating added in a different manufacturing step. In addition, bonding between the metallic shell core and the elastomeric layer can be a problem requiring special treatment, and external heating, especially in the case of thinly coated, shell cored rollers, can result in early delamination failure of such rollers.